I turned 75 last year and I officially retired from the corporate world. I had some ideas about what I wanted to do with my life. In September of that year, I decided to restart an old family entertainment business that features balloon twisting, face painting, magic and storytelling. Of course, I cannot possibly do all these things at every event at the same time. Magic would be a birthday party thing while company picnics and festivals would be more appropriate for balloons and face painting. Storytelling would be more for senior citizens and if schools and libraries were open to storytelling then that would be great!!
And then COVID-19 hit. But I still have hopes that I will get this all together and do well in the next year or two! As far as other stuff about me, I square and round dance. I enjoy reading and I am a beekeeper. We have 5 dogs (100 pound each or more) and 3 cats. I got married 5 years ago to a great guy who drives an18 wheeler and is not home too much (a day or two every 2-3 weeks). We live on about 2 acres of trees outside of Neosho, MO. I am originally from Dallas, so I have no problem entertaining in the 4-state area. I like to travel so an hour or an hour and half from the house is just fine with me to entertain a group!
When Jennifer (the children’s librarian at Joplin public library) in 2000 met me she talked about storytelling. I went to a RAPS (River and Prairie Storyweavers) meeting. It was intriguing. As a magician I always made up my patter, so storytelling seemed to be a natural extension of that. Why did you decide it was important to be a member of Missouri Storytelling? How can MO-TELL improve? Example: members, newsletter etc. Well I think being a member of any professional group is a must. There are workshops and mentoring opportunities at these groups that I want to take advantage of to better my skills. I am a card-carrying magician with the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) and have been for almost 25 years. The networking is important. MO-TELL and RAPS can provide that same kind of networking. I am expecting to earn part of my living in this field. As far as to MO- TELL improving, right now it looks good but I’m a newer member still.
The RAPS tellers like Joyce Slater, the Kuntz’s, Steve Otto and Jim Two Crows Wallen in the KC area to mention some have had a strong influence on me. Also, Nancy Shelton in Springfield has made an impression on me. I have listened to Doug Lipman, Barbara McBride Smith and many others from the Oklahoma conferences back 20 years ago.
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